M87 has raised $3 million in its first funding round with Qualcomm Ventures and 21Vianet as the lead investors. Existing angel investors also backed the found. The Austin-based startup is working on a technology that would allow phones to share their 4G connections with one another, according to GigaOM.
The founders of M87 came from the engineering department of the University of Texas. They have designed a crowdsourced connectivity system that lets adjacent mobile phones link with each other using Wi-Fi to use each other's 3G and 4G connections. The startup wants to sell this technology to mobile carriers to share this experience with their customers, the report explained.
M87 has crafted a method of linking these subscribers without touching their data plans. The mobile security of these consumers will not be compromised along the process, the report added.
Qualcomm has begun a project called LTE Direct which allows two adjacent devices to connect with each other using LTE radios in lieu of the mobile network. Integrating M87's technology with this project could provide consumers with an LTE network that could be more far-reaching than what is available at present, GigaOM reported.
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